@David: I was going to suggest a centre-zero meter (I might even have one for you if you want) but really if you're going to drive them with an MCU then you can make them do what you want anyway, and centre zero meters need + and - drive voltages which would make life difficult.

I was thinking the same thing. I don't think it will be difficult at all to drive a zero-center meter from a single power supply, though. Just put a big electrolytic capacitor in series with the meter movement.

To go along with it, maybe synthesize a "tick" when it flicks left and a "tock" when it flicks right.

Personally I'd go with keeping it simple and make it so the dials are easy to read but make the dial look aged.

The sound selection for the tick..tock would depend on the responsiveness of the selected meter. A slow response might work better with the sound of a larger clock while a faster response might work better with that of a smaller clock or watch.

I think there are a couple, but the ones I'm using for Mins and Secs are a semi-matched pair (same manufacturer and same look and feel - -just one was originally intended for volt sand one for current -- but I'll be replacing the legends on the faceplates anyway).

The ones I have have a 90 degree movement -- and that will be OK for 6 major marks with 10 smaller ones between them.

In conjunction with unveiling of EE Times’ Silicon 60 list, journalist & Silicon 60 researcher Peter Clarke hosts a conversation on startups in the electronics industry. One of Silicon Valley's great contributions to the world has been the demonstration of how the application of entrepreneurship and venture capital to electronics and semiconductor hardware can create wealth with developments in semiconductors, displays, design automation, MEMS and across the breadth of hardware developments. But in recent years concerns have been raised that traditional venture capital has turned its back on hardware-related startups in favor of software and Internet applications and services. Panelists from incubators join Peter Clarke in debate.